Director's Cut: Dirty Projectors: "Stillness Is the Move"

"I was told they were wolves, but I never saw their wolf papers."

From Guns N' Roses' "November Rain" to Juvenile's"Ha", great music videos are quick bursts of sound and vision that leave an indelible impression. Director's Cut is a Pitchfork News feature in which we chat with music video directors about their creations. The men and women behind the camera are often overlooked in today's YouTube era, but this feature aims to highlight their hard work while showcasing the best videos currently banging around the internet. A little behind-the-scenes dirt couldn't hurt, too.

This time, we chatted with Matthew Lessner, the man behind "Stillness Is the Move", the Dirty Projectors' pretty, contemplative wander through the woods, set to the first single from their breakthrough Bitte Orcaalbum. Shot in Vermont, the video finds Lessner dressing the band like time-warped Mongols and surrounding them with llamas and wolves. While the girls in the band awkwardly try their hand at R&B-style choreography, mastermind Dave Longstreth thoughtfully wanders the hillsides. It's hard to say what, exactly, the video means (and Lessner's not spilling), but it works as a misty, evocative companion piece to one of the year's greatest, most ambitious indie rock songs.

Check below for our talk with Lessner, in which he talks wolf wranglers and TLC videos.

Pitchfork: I guess the most important question would be this: Are those wolves or are those just huskies?

Matthew Lessner: That's a good question. I'm not quite sure. They were brought to set at the last minute. We had a wide variety of animals we were shooting for, and those animals just showed up on the last day. I can't say for certain if they were wolves. I never saw their papers. I was told they were wolves, but I never saw their wolf papers.

Pitchfork: Where did they come from?

ML: We were shooting out in Vermont, and I just started calling veterinary clinics. I called the mayor of the town, and I said, "What are some weird animals that you've got around here?" We had a pretty open range. I had a short list of different species I wanted to get my hands on. But because it was out there and because we were on a limited budget, we just started kind of calling around. It's actually surprising: When people keep odd animals, they're usually pretty willing to hop on board. The animals that were involved were not pro animals. They're just amateurs, and their handlers just decided to bring them by, hang out for the day, and eat some free sandwiches and stuff.

Pitchfork: Were you nervous about working with actual untrained wolves?

ML: No, not at all. I mean, we talked about it with the band. They knew the danger that they might get bitten, but it was a risk they were willing to take.

Pitchfork: What animals did you want that you couldn't get?

ML: We ended up getting llamas, but we were talking about alpacas. I was talking about emus. We were trying to get our hands on some emus or maybe some other large birds that you can ride on. I can't remember the name of them. We had some options for some more run-of-the-mill sort of animals, your goats and long-horned rams. But yeah, we stuck with these guys.

Pitchfork: Is there any particular meaning to including whatever exotic animals you could get?

ML: Yes and no. I mean, I think that there's a particular... I don't know that, say, a hippo could have worked. Although I would've liked to have had a hippo. But yeah, I think it needed to be a sort of herdable, nomadic type animal. But there was a certain leeway in terms of what, exactly, that animal could be. And there is a certain element of chance, of randomness involved in trying to get what we could get our hands on. It wasn't a big budget production where I could just say, "We need this and that," and then just go get it... There was a certain kind of nomadic quality that I think was important. There was definitely this overarching idea that we were talking about. But the llama could have been, perhaps, several giant emus or some untamed stallions or something. Perhaps it could have worked all the same.

Pitchfork: Do you think you could articulate what, exactly, that overarching theme is?

ML: Um, no. I couldn't. I mean, I could send you a dossier, a several-page dossier with some graphs and spirals and stuff. But just right now, it would probably be a little much.

Pitchfork: But you were going for a nomadic feel.

ML: Certainly. Nomadic was really key. A kind of time and place that is sort of nonspecific-- but definitely I think the word nomadic is essential.

Pitchfork: Did the band bond with the animals at all? There's that one shot where Longstreth hugs the llama.

ML: Yeah, I think everyone did. Those llamas were amazing. Everyone was hugging on them. I think there was a certain spontaneity to the getting down with them. We were all kind of hugging them, trying to make them calm down. They were really nice, but I don't think they were accustomed to being around so many people. But you can kind of tune in with them. They kind of make this humming sound. They sing this little tune, and so you can kind of tune in to their frequency and sing along with them, then hug them or pet them. Everyone was pretty excited. It was pretty fun just having them around. They're pretty bizarre-looking creatures. They look like Muppets or something. And yeah, they're really gentle, but they were a little high-strung at first.

Pitchfork: With the choreography in the video, there's this idea floating around that it's a parody of an R&B video. Was that the intent?

ML: I wouldn't use the word "parody." There's definitely a reference point. I think that David [Longstreth] and the band, they all genuinely love that stuff. I think the song itself kind of references that early-90s R&B sort of vibe in an earnest way. We definitely wanted to reference that, but I guess I would be bummed if it came across as a straight-up parody. It was something that we definitely pay homage to in our own sort of way but not necessarily by parodying it or completely trying to replicate it. We try to use that as sort of a reference point or jumping-off point, to incorporate those things in a way that you could recognize but not in a way that was trying to necessarily poke fun at it or be ironic or something. I guess that was kind of the hope. I grew up watching a lot of TLC videos and stuff, and I think they grew up listening to a lot of that sort of stuff as well.

Pitchfork: Is there any specific video or group that you are paying homage to there?

ML: No. I was talking to David about the Rise Above stuff, about the idea of trying to replicate something from your memory as opposed to actually watching it. So we never sat down and YouTubed these old videos. It was just, in my mind, the memory of stuff. Definitely when I think of old videos of that era, I have fragments of videos. I'm not even sure what some of them are. Maybe Janet Jackson dancing in some cage somewhere or something. And then, like, the Terminator 2 effects in some TLC video. But no, it wasn't specifically sitting down and specifically trying to replicate something. It was just that kind of vibe or that kind of memory of that sort thing.

Pitchfork: Who did the choreography?

ML: The band actually did it. We actually had a string of really bad luck with choreographers. One was in some sort of fishing accident. Then another one just went missing for a couple weeks. It seemed like there was some sort of curse. Another one had some sort of illness; I don't know if it was food poisoning or what. We would get something started, and then this one is missing, this one is out to sea. Then finally, the girls decided that they would be most comfortable just doing it themselves. So all the three girls spent some time in the living room mapping it out and hammering it out on their own.